REC says it will supply 25,720 REC Peak Energy Series solar panels for a 6.5 MW ground-mounted tracker system in Andhra Pradesh, India. The company says all of the expected 12.29 GWh of electricity produced each year will be used for the printing of a local newspaper.

According to REC, such ‘captive’ large-scale solar installations for self consumption are a financially attractive alternative source of energy in India, due to shortages and high electric rates.

‘Solar-generated power for captive consumption not only guards businesses against increasing electricity prices; it also provides good investment opportunity,’ says Shailendra Mohan Bebortha, REC's managing director for India. ‘We see self-consumption as a key business model for solar in India because it doesn't depend on incentive schemes, has no restrictions on system sizes, has low level of bureaucracy and makes industrial customers independent from fluctuations in energy prices.’

The newspaper's solar plant is being built by Photon Energy Systems Ltd. and is expected to be completed by the end of September.